Mount Prospect Plaza

Interesting stories, facts, history:

While strip malls are rarely of much historic interest, the Mount Prospect Plaza has more to say than one might imagine. When the Plaza was built, there were very few shopping plazas in America. When the Plaza was started, in 1958, it was a pioneering concept. In the long run, strip malls have dramatically changed the landscapes in America, particularly in suburban communities. Strip malls are based on people driving to one location, which is at the outskirts of town and is isolated from the rest of the community. This is a very different concept of shopping than the small town days of the 1950s. Earlier in Mount Prospect’s history, there were small community owned businesses in the downtown area, which was a mixed use neighborhood with offices, store fronts, and houses within close proximity. The heydays of downtown Mount Prospect came to an end in 1962 with the opening of Randhurst and the Mount Prospect Plaza. These locations brought in larger national chain stores and were based entirely on an automobile culture. Ample parking was a necessity, but a pedestrian scale or an attractive street front was not.

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The Mount Prospect Historical Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which is committed to preserving the history of Mount Prospect, Illinois through artifacts, photographs and both oral and written memories of current and former residents and businesspeople. On its campus in the heart of the Village, the Society maintains the 1906 Dietrich Friedrich house museum and carriage house and an ADA-accessible education center. The Society is also in the midst of an adaptive restoration of the 1896 one-room Central School, which was moved to the museum campus in 2008.